Sequestration threatens tuition program for student soldiers

Mar. 13, 2013

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About 90 active-duty student soldiers at Missouri State University are at risk of having their college careers disrupted because the federal sequestration, which went into affect March 1, has jeopardized the federal tuition aid they receive.

Those most affected at MSU serve in the Army and National Guard, said Jenifer Kautzman, MSU’s coordinator of Veteran Student Services.

The tuition benefits in jeopardy are not benefits that come from the various G.I. Bills. Instead, they are for active military personnel.

Student soldiers received letters March 8 that stated their funding through the Army Tuition Assistance Program will not be available for the summer and fall semester and will not be available “until the current fiscal situation is resolved,” said Earle Doman, MSU’s vice president for student affairs. The different branches of service had sent out similar notices days earlier.

No one knows when the fiscal situation will be resolved. Thus far in Washington, D.C., Republicans and Democrats are at an impasse. The overall 2013 mandated federal spending cut is targeted at $85 billion, with similar cuts projected for 2014 through 2021. The cuts were enacted by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which was passed as an incentive for Congress to deal directly with the ballooning federal deficit. But that didn’t happen, so the threatened sequestration became reality.

Kautzman knows many of the student soldiers she helps. Her office is down the hall from the third-floor lounge for veterans and active-duty personnel in Carrington Hall. She said the annual award in the Army Tuition Assistance program is $4,500. For those who now receive help from that program, the loss in most cases will prevent students from continuing in college, she said.

“It is going to have a dramatic impact,” Kautzman said. “One student was in my office near tears.”

The disruption MSU student soldiers face is the same for active-duty soldiers across the nation.

Kautzman said the college has no funding stream to keep such students enrolled. Instead, she said, she is doing her best to keep students informed and will direct them to other sources of student aid, including a more modest state program available through the Missouri National Guard.

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The first thing students must do is fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, she said, which all colleges use as a first-step in determining financial aid.

“All we can do is listen to their concerns and provide as much information as we can,” Kautzman said.

At Columbia College, the impact is more immediate because the college’s next term begins March 25. Columbia is a nonprofit college with its main campus in Columbia and a site in Springfield at 3271 E. Battlefield.

According to a press release, tuition charges at Columbia will be deferred for the next term while student soldiers seek other funding.

For those unable to secure other financial assistance, the college will offer a no-liability withdrawal policy or an extended six-month payment plan.

“This is an opportunity to show our military students how much we value their service to our country as we support the goal of higher education for all,” said Mike Lederle, Columbia’s assistant dean for military and federal programs, according to the release.